game to be closed in a few days –

Time is tight, very tight indeed, given that by this week the Chamber and Senate will be busy passing the last measures, in particular a series of decrees that are expiring. The intention of the center-right, with Brothers of Italy at the forefront, is to try to close the game on Rai, by signing an agreement on the four members of the board of directors and the top management of Viale Mazzini before the summer break. On the table of the majority and, therefore, of the government, there are also other issues to be resolved. From the negotiations with Ursula von der Leyen on the European commissioner to send to Brussels to the dossier of the next autumn regional elections (three elections and each with its own pitfalls: Umbria due to natural expiry; Emilia-Romagna due to early voting; Liguria due to the resignation of governor Toti) with the highly accredited hypothesis these days of a single election day on November 17-18.

It will be up to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to unravel the mess: hence the need to meet with her allies, Forza Italia and, above all, Lega, to reach a political agreement that satisfies everyone, leaving aside divisions and vetoes. After the official visit to China and the blitz in Paris to cheer on the Azzurri competing in the Olympics, the Prime Minister will return to Palazzo Chigi tomorrow and there are those who are betting that she could already meet Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini to take stock of the situation. At present, there is no date for the summit and, as always in these cases, it could be called at any useful time. According to the latest rumors confirmed by center-right parliamentary sources, the leaders should meet on the sidelines of the Council of Ministers, scheduled for 11 am on August 7.

The Rai puzzle, therefore, is not simple, and trying to solve it this time seems like a real race against time. Let’s see how we will have to proceed to get to the checkers by the weekend, avoiding a postponement to September: a conference of group leaders is needed to decide when to convene the Chambers to elect the four councilors appointed by parliament, while the Ministry of Economy led by Giancarlo Giorgetti should bring the nominations under its jurisdiction to the last pre-holiday Council of Ministers, that of August 7th. Finally, and here is the most complicated ‘step’, the ratification by the Supervisory Commission of the Rai president is needed, where a qualified majority of two thirds is required. Without an agreement, everything could be postponed until after mid-August. Another option, not well received by the majority, is to close the game in two stages: immediately vote on the nominations to reconstitute the board of directors and subsequently, when parliamentary work resumes, elect the president of the company on Viale Mazzini to the Supervisory Commission.